Nanjing Lukou International Airport
Nanjing Lukou International Airport
Nanjing Lukou International Airport (IATA: NKG, ICAO: ZSNJ) is an international airport serving Nanjing, the capital of East China's Jiangsu province, and a major airport serving the Yangtze River Delta area. As of 2020, it is the 12th busiest civil airport in China, dropping one place from 2019 after being overtaken by Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport. It is located in the suburban Jiangning District, over 35 km (22 mi) south of the city center, and is connected to Nanjing and neighboring towns by expressways. Phase I of the Ninggao Intercity Line and Line S1 of the Nanjing Metro link the airport with Nanjing South railway station. Nanjing is the hub for China Eastern Airlines' Jiangsu Company, Shenzhen Airlines' Jiangsu branch and Juneyao Air's Jiangsu branch. China Southern Airlines operates a considerable number of flights there as well. Despite not operating as much flights as some other airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines and Air Travel also set up bases in Nanjing. Nanjing is the main base for China Postal Airlines, with pure cargo service to all major cities in China, handling express mail and cargo transportation for China Post. In 2020, the airport handled 19,906,576 passengers and 389,362.4 tons of freight after experiencing a 34.9% drop in passenger traffic due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Location
31.735°N, 118.866°E · 15 m s. n. m. (49 ft)
General data
Runways · 2
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 4
Tower
Ground
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
In 2006, China Post started building its express logistics center at Nanjing Lukou to handle its express mail services. Initial construction was completed by 2009, with additional facilities and functions added continuously. The final project, as planned, would be the largest in Asia and the third-largest in the world of its kind.
In 2009, the airport handled 10 million passengers. On 26 March 2010, Singapore Airlines officially ceases its operation between Singapore Changi and Nanjing. In 2013, that number surpassed 15 million, which was 3 million above the terminal's designed operational capacity. In preparation for the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, hosted by Nanjing, Terminal 2 was completed after more than three years of construction. Also completed were a new parallel runway with taxiways, a new tower, new aircraft parking positions, and new cargo handling facilities. On 12 July 2014, all flights were relocated to Terminal 2, and Terminal 1 was closed for renovation.
The new facilities removed the bottleneck caused by the limited capability of the old terminal and runway. In November 2014, with the launching of the Phase 2 expansion and optimization of neighboring air traffic patterns, authorities approved an increase of peak-hour flight volume from 28 flights per hour to 38 flights per hour.
With the added capacity, Nanjing Airport has seen rapid increase in both aircraft movement and total passengers. In 2015, the number of total passengers exceeded 19 million (until 28 December), that is 2.87 million on top of 2014, a 17.7% increase compared to the same period of the previous year. The airport continues to see substantial increase into 2016, which saw 29,210 aircraft movements and 3.39 million passengers handled in January and February, a 16.9% and a 21.2% increase respectively, comparing to the same period 2015.
On 27 October 2019, Malaysia Airlines ceased its operation between Kuala Lumpur and Nanjing despite great passenger traffic performance in an effort to readjust its operation model overseas.
In 2020, Finnair ceased its operation between Helenski and Nanjing due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Airlines operating here · 44
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Siyuwj · CC BY-SA 4.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Nanjing Lukou International Airport (NKG). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NKG
MLA
“Nanjing Lukou International Airport (NKG).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NKG. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Nanjing Lukou International Airport (NKG).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NKG.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Nanjing Lukou International Airport (NKG). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NKG (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_nkg,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Nanjing Lukou International Airport (NKG)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NKG},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NKG}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NKG |title=Nanjing Lukou International Airport (NKG) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}